Machine Minute - Sewing Coated Fabrics

Sewing with laminates and coated fabrics will go smoothly with these quick tips!

Hi, I'm Jennifer, here with another Machine Minute brought to you by Baby Lock and the Symphony Machine. Vinyl or vinyl coated fabrics are gaining in popularity at quilt shops, and I'm here to take the mystery out of sewing with them. Some fabrics are simply coated on one side and cloth on the other. Those are often used to make bags, raincoats, umbrellas or totes. But there are also clear vinyls that are available like is used in this little zippered pouch where you can see through. And that kind of vinyl brings with it its own challenges because obviously it's coded on the front and the back. There isn't a fabric or cloth side to it. Now if you've ever tried sewing with vinyl or vinyl coated fabrics you might have run into some problems if you were using your standard presser foot because the vinyl tends to get caught on the underside of the presser foot. It doesn't slide through the machine easily, so you might have experienced skip stitches or just the machine sort of stopping and the fabric not advancing through it. But having a specialty foot is the key. There is a machine foot called the Teflon Coated Foot, and there's a special coating on the underside, and I'm going to show you just how easy it is once you have this specialty foot in place. It could be a great investment for your machine and in the success of your sewing. So here I've got a piece of coated vinyl fabric and it's not coated on this side but it is on the backside. Now one of the nice things about working with this fabric is it doesn't fray, so you can turn back an edge and have a nice, sharp seam if you like. You don't have to worry about fraying or turning it under. You don't want to use pins when you're sewing vinyl because it will leave permanent holes in the fabric. So I've got these little wonder clips that keep it turned back for me. And then, with the Teflon coated foot in place, you can see just how easily the fabric will glide beneath the foot. When I come to the little clip I take it out. Having a Teflon Coated Foot will make sewing vinyl so much easier. Give it a try.